Richard Sobel

Utilizing both a critical thinking approach and a comparative perspective throughout the text, Sobel and Shiraev provide comprehensive coverage of public opinion while also teaching students the basic skills necessary for measurement, understanding, and interpretation. Written in an accessible and engaging manner, this text provides a unique and practical introduction to the field of public opinion. The book begins by "schooling" the reader in how to think critically and then helps students apply those techniques as they encounter the concepts of public opinion. The text also employs a comparative perspective, demonstrating the effect and nature of public opinion in other countries while also placing American public opinion in context. New to the Second Edition A focus on the debate about accuracy of polls and reliability of sampling in the "smartphone" era. This will include discussing issues of Internet surveys and problems and solutions to cell phone polling. More comparative examples of surveys from democratic countries. New data from the national presidential and congressional elections from 2008 to 2016. A new chapter on security and defense issues, including national security, surveillance and privacy in addition to the chapter on foreign policy. An increased attention to domestic policy issues, splitting economic issues off from social/moral issues and adding--along with gender, social class, ethnicity and religion--new explorations of the relations of youth, gender ID, and age to opinion. Strengthened pedagogy by introducing new review questions, debate boxes, 3-4 new diagrams for every chapter, and a visual review-diagram to conclude every chapter.

Utilizing both a critical thinking approach and a comparative perspective throughout the text, Sobel and Shiraev provide comprehensive coverage of public opinion while also teaching students the basic skills necessary for measurement, understanding, and interpretation. Written in an accessible and engaging manner, this text provides a unique and practical introduction to the field of public opinion. The book begins by "schooling" the reader in how to think critically and then helps students apply those techniques as they encounter the concepts of public opinion. The text also employs a comparative perspective, demonstrating the effect and nature of public opinion in other countries while also placing American public opinion in context. New to the Second Edition A focus on the debate about accuracy of polls and reliability of sampling in the "smartphone" era. This will include discussing issues of Internet surveys and problems and solutions to cell phone polling. More comparative examples of surveys from democratic countries. New data from the national presidential and congressional elections from 2008 to 2016. A new chapter on security and defense issues, including national security, surveillance and privacy in addition to the chapter on foreign policy. An increased attention to domestic policy issues, splitting economic issues off from social/moral issues and adding--along with gender, social class, ethnicity and religion--new explorations of the relations of youth, gender ID, and age to opinion. Strengthened pedagogy by introducing new review questions, debate boxes, 3-4 new diagrams for every chapter, and a visual review-diagram to conclude every chapter.

Utilizing both a critical thinking approach and a comparative perspective throughout the text, Sobel and Shiraev provide comprehensive coverage of public opinion while also teaching students the basic skills necessary for measurement, understanding, and interpreting. Written in an accessible and engaging manner, this text provides a unique and practical introduction to the field of public opinion. The book begins by ‘schooling the reader in how to think critically and then helps students apply those techniques as they encounter the concepts of public opinion. The text also employs a comparative perspective, demonstrating the effect and nature of public opinion in other countries while also placing American public opinion in context.

Citizenship as Foundation of Rights explores the nature and meaning of American citizenship and the rights flowing from citizenship in the context of current debates around politics, including immigration. The book explains the sources of citizenship rights in the Constitution and focuses on three key citizenship rights - the right to vote, the right to employment, and the right to travel in the US. It explains why those rights are fundamental and how national identification systems and ID requirements to vote, work and travel undermine the fundamental citizen rights. Richard Sobel analyzes how protecting citizens' rights preserves them for future generations of citizens and aspiring citizens here. No other book offers such a clarification of fundamental citizen rights and explains how ID schemes contradict and undermine the constitutional rights of American citizenship.

Citizenship as Foundation of Rights explores the nature and meaning of American citizenship and the rights flowing from citizenship in the context of current debates around politics, including immigration. The book explains the sources of citizenship rights in the Constitution and focuses on three key citizenship rights - the right to vote, the right to employment, and the right to travel in the US. It explains why those rights are fundamental and how national identification systems and ID requirements to vote, work and travel undermine the fundamental citizen rights. Richard Sobel analyzes how protecting citizens' rights preserves them for future generations of citizens and aspiring citizens here. No other book offers such a clarification of fundamental citizen rights and explains how ID schemes contradict and undermine the constitutional rights of American citizenship.

The Politics of Joint University and Community Housing Development: Cambridge, Boston, and Beyond informs and encourages the understanding and creation of community/university housing. It reveals the political and technical dynamics of joint housing development involving both communities and universities. Community/university housing projects have been built in several cities and planned in others. Since Cambridge, Masschusetts, home of Harvard and MIT, contains outstanding examples of community/university housing, the book focuses on the projects there since the 1960s. It also discusses a major project in Mission Hill near Harvard Medical School in Boston, along with brief examinations of a number of other projects. Through the Cambridge and Boston cases, the author explores the historical, political, and economic reasons for developing community housing. There, residents asked the universities to help solve the city housing problems to which the institutions had contributed. Since community housing involved a process, as well as a result in describing how the housing was built, the book focuses on the role of community participation in the development process. The study contributes to the understanding of the issues in several ways. First, two people well acquainted with community/university housing and politics introduce the study with insightful forewords. Second, the study provides details of the development process that will be useful to other community/university groups. Third, it explores university responsibility, rhetoric versus reality, and the educational values of community housing participation. Fifth, the lessons and suggestions provide insights and inspiration for others. Finally, the epilogue explains the development of the study. This study will be particularly helpful for other cities and university/communities encountering housing problems. The features and information here will interest a wide range of community, university, and other urban groups. The issues discussed will become increasingly relevant as more people move into attractive areas near universities. It is also pertinent to institutions like hospitals that also have community and housing problems, and to civic groups that can help solve a range of housing problems. This book explains the politics of community/university housing development in ways that encourage others to address and solve similar problems.

Especially pertinent for political sociologists and political scientists, this text examines key social and political issues surrounding the white collar working class. The study is unique both in its coverage and elucidation of complex theories of white collar class and in incorporating structural class definition into the empirical investigation. The document examines current class situation, changes over time, and political outcomes. Specifically, it identifies a system of stratification within the working class, scrutinizes the proletarianization questions, and demonstrates the political consequences of structural class. The White Collar Working Class is a significant expansion of a study of white collar class at the beginning of the 1980s. Reflecting both traditional and Marxian sociological perspectives of class and stratification, chaptes critique competing theories of white collar class situation and profile the changing white collar class structure. The final chapter explores the political implications of class, stratification, and white collar work.